Kasey Keller went from the defending the Millwall goal and boozing with team-mates to living in a German castle during a rollercoaster career
When Kasey Keller kicked up his feet in his German castle after a hard day of training – he might have thought back to his Millwall days.
The fresh-faced American, still in his early twenties, was subject to pitch invasions, 20 beers benders and English football culture during a whirlwind spell at The Den. However, Kasey, who turns 56 on Saturday, swapped it all for a castle and time in Bundesliga.
“I was always a very confident kid – I wasn’t going to get bullied into anything I didn’t want to do. I’m not a big drinker, and I’ve never been a big drinker,” he told The Guardian back in 2013.
“But it was definitely entertaining at different times to watch some of my team-mates. What truly amazes me, to this day was the way these guys could drink and show up the next day at practice – with zero effect.
“I had one team-mate who told me that if he had a choice, he would never drink a liquid that wasn’t alcohol…”
Keller also joked about how Millwall would have “three or four” pitch invasions each season and he “just thought that was normal until I got to different clubs and never had another one the rest of my career.”
The American swapped Millwall for Leicester back in 1996 – and would spend three years at the Foxes before spells with Rayo Vallecano and Tottenham led him to the Bundesliga and his castle.
“I did live in a castle. We still laugh about that. It was built by the Franks in 970 and it had a moat! It was fun as an American to get to do that,” he continued.
“We wanted to be closer, but we couldn’t find the house we were looking for…
“There were actually cuts in one of the turrets, so you could have put some archers up there. The people who maintained the castle had turned them into glass, but you could have worked that out.
“You could’ve caused some havoc.”
When speaking about the property to a local news outlet during his tenancy he wouldn’t put a number on the price, but admitted it wasn’t cheap.
He said: “It’s like an antique car. There’s always something that needs to be done. That’s the only real drawback: You’re living in a 1,000-year old property.”
Keller hung up his gloves in 2011 after he return to his native Washington to turn out for Seattle Sounders.
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